Large homeless tent city springs up near downtown San Jose

A campsite, built by members of the homeless community, is part of a growing tent city in open space along West Hedding St. and Spring St. in San Jose, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. A clean-up effort last December along the Guadalupe River has displaced hundreds of homeless who are now settling in nearby open spaces. This area has been the latest cause of concern by the city of San Jose in dealing with illegal homeless encampments. (Gary Reyes/ Staff)

SAN JOSE -- As a large homeless encampment has sprouted in grassy fields not far from the Guadalupe River Park, some frustrated local residents have made this sarcastic suggestion:

Maybe the financially strapped city should just start charging camping fees.

"I've heard that joke," said Ray Bramson of San Jose's housing department.

But he's not laughing. Nobody else is, either. The tent city, which rapidly mushroomed into a makeshift community of more than 100 people, has become the latest test for officials as they wrestle with the complicated problem of homelessness.

Director of Housing Leslye Corsiglia wrote Wednesday in a memo to the City Council that the site, located along Spring Street between Taylor and Hedding streets, is targeted to be cleaned up -- and cleaned out -- the first week in March. The "somewhat unprecedented growth" of the encampment has prompted the city into action, Corsiglia told the council.

Bramson, the city's point person on the encampment issue, said the larger challenge is finding solutions beyond merely pushing the homeless elsewhere.

"This site is our highest priority right now because we can't accept this," he said. "We don't want that land to be overtaken and have people coming from outside the region and set up there. We realize that it's unsettling for the community and that nearby residents don't feel safe."

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There has been mounting political pressure throughout Santa Clara County as residents and environmental groups -- fed up with crime and garbage associated with encampments -- have pushed for more attention to be focused on the homeless issue.

A majority of the city's estimated 60 encampments are along waterways where they generally are hidden from view. This one is different because it's so visible and has grown so quickly -- much like an unsightly weed. The open area near the popular Guadalupe River Trail, sports fields and San Jose Heritage Rose Garden has become populated with about 70 tents and tarpaulin-covered structures.

Not taking action, Mayor Chuck Reed said, simply will invite more people to set up camp.

"Folks are trespassing and there are no sanitary facilities," Reed said. "We certainly don't want people living in unsanitary conditions. We have to go through, clean it up and get people into services."

Area residents say there used to be one person living in a tent there. But more tents began appearing late last year. Then, a January cleanup of state land along the Guadalupe River by Caltrans had the unintended effect of swelling the numbers on this undeveloped property that is owned by the city and the San Jose Mineta Airport.

"All these new people came up from the river banks in the last month, and I stay as far away from them as possible," said a homeless man who asked not to be identified. "Most of those people are drug addicts, and you can hear them up all night. It's horrible."

Peter Hubbard, 62, visits the green space because it's a prime location for migrating birds. But he has watched with increasing alarm the damage to the ecosystem and the brazen attitude of some squatters. One man, he said, saw his bird-watching binoculars and advised him to leave.

"I told him in no uncertain terms that he had no right to tell me what to do on that land," Hubbard said. "I'm not looking for any confrontations with these people, and I'm sympathetic because I know a lot of them have problems. But they just can't let people stay there."

Sgt. Jason Dwyer, a San Jose police spokesman, said the department has not seen a noticeable uptick in crime near the encampment.

"But it's certainly an eyesore because there's a lot of tents out there," Dwyer said. "You can see it growing, and I'm sure thousands of people who drive past them every day see it, too. But cleanups aren't going to solve the problem. The goal has to be to get people off the streets permanently."

Bramson agrees. He said the city's nonprofit partners who work with the homeless have been making outreach visits to the site, letting people know that workers are coming and offering shelter options. The short-term aim will be to prevent repopulating the encampment -- which is a common, frustrating pattern.

"It does have the feel of a campground," Bramson said. "It's basically park land, and that makes it hard to keep people out. We just don't have the ranger coverage that we used to have. But there needs to be some level of enforcement to keep it clean."

A homeless man with a scraggly gray beard who identified himself as Pete, and said he is a 59-year-old Air Force veteran, understands why the city wants them out.

"They're not picking on anybody personally," he said. "The city doesn't want to lose its image. It's hard to say where I'll go, but there's always options."

Hubbard is just looking forward to the site being returned to its original state.

"It's such a fine piece of land, and that's why I'm a real advocate for this parcel," he said. "When they're gone, I'll be back in there helping to clean it up."

John Woolfolk contributed to this report. Contact Mark Emmons at 408-920-5745.